Yes It is true that formal education has lot of flaws. Then Why Should We Study? And yes it is true that formal education that is currently provided throughout the world is by far not enough to achieve either material or spiritual success. Its is even worse in developing countries like India, China etc. Then Again Why should we study?
Because if you sincerely strive to do well in your formal education then it will inculcate some of the foundational virtues in you which will help you not only in taking better decisions but also in their better implementation them in your life.
Which Virtues Inculcated by Formal Education ?
In General:
- Self Discipline or Temperance: Control on one’s unnecessary desires is one of the most important qualities to have which will support you in all your struggles – not just career struggles but even in your social and mental struggles.
- Integrity with respect to achieving your goals: With this virtue people will believe on you that you can get things done. This becomes especially important on team projects, startups, or even in formation of stable and reliable social groups.
- Perseverance: The ability to not give up and keep going. We all know how important that is.
In Particular:
- In some students virtues like Courage, Honesty, Kindness, Patience, humility etc. are also developed through subjects like history and other social sciences.
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all three of them believed that – “A Virtuous person can do no wrong”. Well That is why should we study.
How are this Virtues inculcated?
By formal exams: Formal exams are meant to test your knowledge and understanding about your subjects that you have studied during your semester. So if you prepare sincerely for these exams then you will develop qualities like discipline and hard working. Just imagine the Integrity of those people who have consistently done well throughout their formal education years. But there is a problem as well i.e. You cannot just keep preparing for your formal exams throughout your semester – that will be detrimental to your overall development. You must optimize it with sports, extra curriculars, and further exploration of how things actually work in reality.
By mandatory attendance criteria: It induces punctuality in you. That helps you form some life long healthy habits like waking up early, forming a work routine, time management etc.
By maintaining discipline in class – it tends to make us into good listeners – another quality that will help you throughout your life. You should keep honing such qualities. Also that does not mean you should not ask questions.
Still Why should we study- That is why.
Why should we study? – Other benefits of Formal Education.
Personality Development: Sincerity during formal education and participation in sports and extracurriculars develops a disciplined, hardworking and confident personality. With these one can be a good leader, a protagonist etc. A confident personality can develop good social skills and harnessing social support can not only make your life better but also of others which is in general necessary for a stable society.
Sports and Extra curriculars are extremely important for developing sportsmen spirit and teamwork capabilities. Also they can eliminate some of the anomalies of a formal education like toxic competitiveness and induce positive sense of competition among students.
Time management: Again Sports, Participation in events, preparation for formal exams, maintaining punctuality – all of these instill the importance of time in our mind and consistently do so throughout our formal days. These experiences stored in your sub conscious mind will help you in facing all time challenges that you face later in your lives.
Increases focus: Focus is the ability to be attentive towards one’s task. An increased focus will help you sail through all the distractions that we have in our modern lives. It increases you work efficiency as well.
Improves reading and understanding abilities: This can open up doors for you to read and understand the finest literature around the world. And believe me reading such literature can transform your life completely.
Capability to take risks: This is basic psychology. If throughout your formal education you have consistently achieved your goals that you set for yourself then your ability to take a decision which involves certain amount of risk and to implement it according to requirement will be greatly enhanced.
Problem Solving: Obviously you face a lot of problems while making sense out of your subjects, making projects, doing experiments etc. Performing these tasks sincerely and learning from your mistakes will develop strong problem solving capabilities in you.
So these were the key benefits of formal education. Yes formal education has a lot of problems some of which I have mentioned below which you should be aware of and not let them get in the way of your all-round development.
Thus Formal Education forms a rock solid foundational base for you – all you need to do is along with forming this launch pad you should keep readying yourself to take off. That you can do by exploring things beyond your formal education like taking interest in business, art, culture, philosophy, spirituality etc.
If you are struggling with Consistency then here’s my article on – How to be Consistent ?
If you are struggling to work for long hours or getting distracted or burn out then here’s my article – How to work for long?
Some negative aspects of formal education
Toxic Competitiveness. Don’t teach how to learn. Do not aware students about actual reality.
Do not encourage to ask questions and No mechanism solve problems faced by students regarding learning.
No ethical education.
Not Enough Critical Thinking & Curiosity
Don’t worry if you are confused about how to deal with these problems -you can ask your seniors, teachers, experts etc. Also I will be addressing each of these problems in my upcoming articles.
Suggestions or Concerns ?
If you still have the question “Why should we Study” then write your concerns in the comment section or connect with me on following social media and give your suggestions there.